Passover and converts

In all the other religious excitement going on now, I nearly missed Passover, the Jewish holiday which remembers the Exodus.

A friend of mine is in the process of converting and she's trying to figure out exactly what she needs to do for her first Passover. Jews don't usually make a big deal of the sacrifices the week entails, but it can be pretty extensive. The law requires that the house be emptied of all bread products with leavening -- which includes rice and corn syrup. Many Jews have a seperate set of dishes and cookware so the food is not contaminated. My friend has emptied most of the bread from her pantries and found kosher for Passover Diet Coke, so I think she's set.

It made me realize that people new to a faith tend to get caught up in the rules and regulations. They want to make sure they are doing everything "right." Those rules certainly have a point -- usually, the goal is to bring us closer to God -- but when does it become too much? When do we commit the sin of scrupulosity or legalism?

Muslim market

The Muslim community in Shreveport can no longer be ignored. When a community can support a grocery store, it's stable and probably growing.

Two new Lebanese restaurants have opened in town in recent weeks, and one, Mona's (just off Line Ave.) also has a grocery store component. I love Middle Eastern food, so we checked it out for dinner and wandered through the exotic spices and cheeses in the store section.

Much to my surprise there was a bag of marshmallows labeled "halal." I stopped and waved them at my fiance -- he should be used to me getting excited about semi-obscure religious customs. Halal is the Muslim version of kosher. As Jews in Shreveport will tell you, it can be difficult to keep kosher here, since there's no kosher grocery store.

Until now, I don't know if you could get anything that was officially halal. Now, you can at least get marshmallows, and I'm guessing other products will follow.

Happy Hanukkah!

Jews began celebrating the Festival of Lights last evening. The story behind the holiday is pretty amazing.

It goes back to the first ever battle for religious freedom, told in the first four chapters of the Book of Macabees (part of the Catholic Bible, but considered apocryphal by Protestants and Jews). In about the fourth century BC, Syrians took over Jerusalem and defiled the temple. Then the Scripture says: "The king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people,
each abandoning his particular customs. All the Gentiles conformed to the command of the king,
and many Israelites were in favor of his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath." The king further prohibited sacrifices in the temple, circumcision and keeping the Sabbath.

Others would not be taken in so easily. "Women who had had their children circumcised were put to death, in keeping with the decree, with the babies hung from their necks; their families also and those who had circumcised them were killed. But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean; they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die."

Finally a family of five brothers stood up and said no more. Judas Macabeus encouraged his kinsmen to follow despite the odds: ""It is easy for many to be overcome by a few; in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between deliverance by many or by few; for victory in war does not depend upon the size of the army, but on strength that comes from Heaven. With great presumption and lawlessness they come against us to destroy us and our wives and children and to despoil us; but we are fighting for our lives and our laws."

Over the course of a couple of years, Judas kept bringing his small armies of untrained men against the tens of thousands sent by the Syrians -- and he kept winning. Finally they reclaimed the temple, purified it and celebrated for eight days.

In this country, where we take our religious freedom for granted, it's a good reminder. And at this time of year, when Christian Christmas symbols are everywhere, it's also worth remembering that we don't all believe the same thing and that's OK.

Photo: Times file photo

Honoring Israel

Christians will sing Hebrew melodies. Jews will pray in a church while charismatic Christians raise their arms in worship. A representative of the Israeli consulate and an internationally known Evangelical pastor will speak.

Tonight's A Night to Honor Israel event promises to be a fascinating blend of cultures as Evangelical Christians and Jews come together to pray for the preservation of the state of Israel. The movement started with the Rev. John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio and the keynote speaker for today's event. He takes the idea to show support for Israel from several Scripture verses, particularly Genesis 12:3: "And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed." The "thee" refers to Abraham and his descendants (which I might mention also includes Muslims).

Last years event was fascinating on a cultural level and was a pretty exciting worship service. If you're interested in attending, here are the details:

A Night to Honor Israel
7 p.m. Oct. 9
Shreveport Community Church, 5720 Buncombe Road, Shreveport

I'll have a full report in tomorrow's paper Times and probably some more details here on the blog.

Happy New Year!

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown today.

My story, which runs tomorrow, looks at the demographics and the future of the Jewish community in Shreveport. It was a hard, sad story to write. The Jewish congregations are vital, spiritual places and members are active in the wider community, and I wanted to make that clear. In fact, I was floored when I heard there are only 400 Jews in Shreveport - I knew it was a small group, but I didn't think it was that small. But the reality of the numbers means they might not be able to maintain their facilities and structures for very long. Read it - let me know what you think could be done.

With that said, the story doesn't discuss the particulars of the holiday very much, so I thought I would add some of that here. Rosh Hashanah begins 10 days of reflection and repentance leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement on Sept. 22. They are explicitly mentioned in the Bible (Leviticus 23:23-32) and are the most important holidays in the calendar. The period is commonly referred to as the High Holy Days.

The holiday begins festively, with apples and honey being one of the preferred foods to symbolize a sweet New Year. Services are characterized by the blowing of the shofar, or rams horn. The shofar calls to mind the Kingship of God and his eventual judgement of people.

To all my Jewish friends, I wish you many blessings.

Photo: Rabbi Foster Kawaler, of Congregation Agudath Achim, blows a shofar. Times file photo

Sabbath Correction

The ultimate hazard of religion reporting is confusing various theologies. I did that in post about Rabbi Jana's installation, and she kindly corrected me and now I'll pass it on to you:

In the song opening the Sabbath, the image is the congregation as the groom and the Sabbath is the bride, eagerly awaited by the faithful. "Traditionally, we even stand during the last verse, turn toward the door, and imagine the bride entering the room, like in a wedding," she said.

Catholic theology flips that around, seeing the church as the bride of Christ, so I mixed it up. Sorry! It's a pretty cool image either way.

God and CNN

CNN's Christiane Amanpour has put together a three night series of stories titled "God's Warriors." Each one focussed on devout members of a different religion: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.


According to the press release: "Amanpour reports that during the last 30 years, each faith has exploded into a powerful political force, comprised of followers – “God's warriors” – who share a deep dissatisfaction with modern society, and a fierce determination to place God and religion back into daily life and to the seats of power."


They sent me advance copies of the documentary, and it was pretty fascinating. I watched the piece on Christianity and Judaism, because the militant arms of those traditions are sometimes overlooked. The piece on Christianity is particularly noteworthy because it includes the last interview with the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. She does a decent job of walking the fine line between portraying her subjects as more devout than most without making them seem crazy. She also confronts people with criticisms of their movements, and everyone gets a chance to explain themselves.


If anyone out there watches, let me know what you think. It airs at 8 p.m. today, Wednesday and Thursday.

Post-installation thoughts

Rabbi Jana De Benedetti put together a beautiful service for her installation as rabbi of B'nai Zion. Here's a few details I noticed but couldn't work into the story:

* During the installation prayer, De Benedetti stood under a prayer shawl, which was held up like a chuppah, which is usually used during weddings. The chuppah symbolizes the home that a couple will build together. During the installation, De Benedetti saw a spiritual home being built for the congregation.

* The prayer shawl itself had tree branches on it and the Hebrew inscription "It is a tree of life." The "it" referred to Torah (to Jews, the law; to Christians, the first five books of the Old Testament). Since Torah is actually a feminine noun, De Benedetti said the inscription could also be translated: "She's the tree of life."

* The phrase also reminded her that God gave us choices, but if we keep to God's law, it gives us life.

* As they began the standard Sabbath service piece of the evening, candles were lit and a beautiful prayer was sung welcoming the Sabbath. "We welcome Shabbat as if we were the bride and Shabbat was the groom." Shouldn't we all look forward to worship that way?

Congratulations Rabbi Jana

Sometimes in this business, it's hard to be completely objective, especially when you get to know really cool people. Rabbi Jana De Benedetti is one of those people. I've talked to her off and on over the years about all things Jewish, and she's a wonderful apologist for her faith. She's super smart and has a rich but simple spirituality, which she summarized by saying "I see God all the time, and God answers questions all the time."

Last month she was finally ordained a Rabbi, the culmination of a life long dream and the subject of Sunday's living front. She sent me a few pictures from the actual ordination in New York:

The class sat in sort of a circle and, each member of the class lit a candle on a menorah.

With the candle lit, each covered their head for a moment of silent prayer. The head rabbi then approached and laid hands on the seminarian and anointed them with oil, which Rabbi Jana said was an unexpected symbol.

Since she speaks Italian, Rabbi Jana was chosen to translate for her Italian classmate, who was chosen by the class to speak at the ordination. "It was very intense and very wonderful," she said of the experience.

Friday she will officially be installed as the rabbi at B'nai Zion.